Australia will receive the newest version of the American Abrams tank. Yesterday, December 19, the portal armyrecognition.com He reported that the Australian government approved the purchase of 75 combat vehicles as part of the LAND 907 Phase 2 project.
Most likely, the purchase will not be limited to tanks alone. So, in April of this year, the American government approved an Australian request for 160 M1A1 tank hulls from storage. They are designed for the production of 75 M1A2 SEPv3 Abrams tanks, as well as a number of vehicles on the Abrams chassis: 29 M1150 mine clearance vehicles, 18 M1074 bridge pavers, 6 M88A2 Hercules evacuation vehicles and other equipment. The potential deal is estimated at $1.685 billion.
Abrams M1A2 SE v3 tank
Image source: armyrecognition.com
As of 2020, the Australian Army had 59 M1A1 Abrams tanks at its disposal. They were purchased in 2004 to replace the Leopard AS1, which had been in service since 1976. In recent years, Australia has been actively re-equipping its army with new armored vehicles. In particular, Boxer armored personnel carriers have already been purchased, K9 Thunder self-propelled guns have been ordered, and the tender for the purchase of new IFVs is at the final stage.
M1 Abrams is the main battle tank of the USA, which was developed in the 70s and has been mass-produced since 1980. The tank is in service with the Marine Corps and the US Army, as well as the armed forces of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Australia and Morocco. The M1A1 modification was developed in 1984 and differs from the basic version with a smoothbore 120 mm gun (the basic version is armed with a 105 mm rifled gun), reinforced armor and an air conditioning system. To date, the latest modification of the Abrams tank is the M1A2 SEPv3, first presented at the AUSA weapons exhibition in October 2015. This modification entered service with the American army under the M1A2C index.
